Prior to Independence,
almost all of the infantry regiments of the British Indian Army were raised on
a class system. The regimental system as it was known came into implementation
in 1921 after World War I and it continued in its unchanged form till 1949.
Whereas the support arms like the Army Service Corps (ASC), the Army Ordnance
Corps (AOC), etc. have no specific class composition and were mixed units, the
infantry regiments were strictly class units.
Some infantry regiments recruited
only one class - like the Sikh Regiment or the Sikh LI. While other
regiments operated on the class-company basis. Where a unit at battalion
level would have mixed companies, i.e. each company of a different class. Like
the Kumaon Regiment which in a battalion used to have a Kumaoni company, a Ahir
Company, a Jat Company, etc. Even traditional "Muslim" regiments like
the Frontier Force Regiment or the Baluch Regiment had mixed companies, in
which invariably two companies would be of the native class and the remaining
two would either be Rajput or Jat or any other North Indian class. This class company system was initiated by
the British primarily to avoid a repetition of the 1857 uprising.
While the class based system of
organising infantry has its advantage of building better camaraderie, espirt-de-corps
and reducing the officer workload, there was always a danger of communalism
raising its ugly head. There was no guarantee that a regiment of a particular
class would remain loyal when they come under external influence of their
community or class and as Major K.C. Praval recounts, "Sticking to the
class based system was tying down a modern army to medieval concepts of loyalty
to caste and religion".
It was in this background that The Brigade of The Guards
was raised in 1949. The Guards, as
they came to be known, was open to recruiting personnel from all backgrounds
and classes. Its battalions were of mixed composition right down to the section
level. The credit for raising The
Brigade of The Guards should go to one man, Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa. In
his earlier days as subaltern, Cariappa spent his time with the 2nd Coldstream
Guards in England, and was impressed with the concept of the Guards with their
handpicked officers and men.
After becoming the Indian Army
Chief in 1949, Cariappa put forward the proposal to raise 'The Brigade of The
Guards' on a mixed class basis, and was granted the permission by the
government. And thus 'The Brigade of The Guards' was raised in August 1949. To
form the regiment, Cariappa bought together four of the senior most battalions
of the Indian Army, 2 Punjab (Now 1 Guards), 1 Grenadiers (Now 2 Guards), 1 Rajputana Rifles (Now 3
Guards) and 1 Rajput (Now 4 Guards).
All the battalions had earned
laurels in World War 2.
Now a little about the 2nd
Battalion (former 1 Grenadiers) (101st
grenadiers)
The second battalion guards traces its origins back to the 101st Grenadiers
The Regiment was first formed in 1778 after 6 grenadier companies (two companies each from the three battalions of the Bombay Army) were combined to form a composite battalion. The Regiment took part in the First Maratha War against the Maratha Empire and fought in a number of engagements against them, including the Battle of Talegaon where they fought with distinction. As a consequence of the unit's impressive performances it was formally created into a permanent unit as the 8th Regiment of Bombay Sepoys.
In 1783 the regiment's title was altered to become the 8th Grenadier Regiment of Bombay Sepoys, and was also known simply as the Bombay Grenadiers. The Regiment claimed that it was the oldest grenadier regiment in the British Empire; the British Army Grenadier Guards did not gain its Grenadier title until 1815 after its actions against the French grenadiers at the Battle of Waterloo.
In consequence of the Indian Army reforms of 1922, the Regiment amalgamated with 5 other regiments to form 5 battalions of the 4th Bombay Grenadiers; the 101st Grenadiers became the 1st Battalion of the new regiment. The battalion had the distinction of being allowed to have its own cap badge. After Indian became independent from the British Empire, the 4th Grenadiers were allocated to the Indian Army, becoming simply The Grenadiers. The Battalion that was once the 101st was transferred to the Brigade of the Guards in 1952, becoming its 2nd Battalion (2 Guards).
The second battalion guards traces its origins back to the 101st Grenadiers
The Regiment was first formed in 1778 after 6 grenadier companies (two companies each from the three battalions of the Bombay Army) were combined to form a composite battalion. The Regiment took part in the First Maratha War against the Maratha Empire and fought in a number of engagements against them, including the Battle of Talegaon where they fought with distinction. As a consequence of the unit's impressive performances it was formally created into a permanent unit as the 8th Regiment of Bombay Sepoys.
In 1783 the regiment's title was altered to become the 8th Grenadier Regiment of Bombay Sepoys, and was also known simply as the Bombay Grenadiers. The Regiment claimed that it was the oldest grenadier regiment in the British Empire; the British Army Grenadier Guards did not gain its Grenadier title until 1815 after its actions against the French grenadiers at the Battle of Waterloo.
In consequence of the Indian Army reforms of 1922, the Regiment amalgamated with 5 other regiments to form 5 battalions of the 4th Bombay Grenadiers; the 101st Grenadiers became the 1st Battalion of the new regiment. The battalion had the distinction of being allowed to have its own cap badge. After Indian became independent from the British Empire, the 4th Grenadiers were allocated to the Indian Army, becoming simply The Grenadiers. The Battalion that was once the 101st was transferred to the Brigade of the Guards in 1952, becoming its 2nd Battalion (2 Guards).
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